The new issue of The Road Not Taken, a Journal of Formal Poetry has just published one of my sonnets, “Spreading Wings.” You canhttp://journalformalpoetry.com, then click on the Spring 2016 issue and scroll down. Since both of our daughters, Sonja and Mary, were present at the poetry reading at the Reader’s Loft Bookstore in Green Bay (http://www.houseofthetomato.com/march), I read this Italian sonnet there. The sonnet is about them when they were young. I wrote it during an extremely terrifying time in Ethel’s and my life when Kevin, our 27 year old son, was in the process of dying from cancer. Writing sonnets (I wrote 44 in all) was the only way I could bear what Ethel, I, and, of course, Kevin most of all, were going through. What concerned me day after day was our family and remembering incidents that made up the substance of our lives as a family. This sonnet tells of a time that I remember with great love in my spirit.
Raising children is not always easy, but I like to think that at least part of what Ethel and I have achieved in life is the way our two daughters have reflected into our granddaughters and grandsons. They both are beyond outstanding parents, always willing to sacrifice so that their children can meet whatever promise they have in life. I am also convince that they are great teachers because of the spirit they have inculcated from the time they were toddlers, dancing through life with a verve that gives no quarter to a universe that is not always kind.
I hope those of you who go to read the sonnet will enjoy it.

I remember “Spreading Wings” from the first time you published it here, on your blog, and how vividly it communicated not only the excitement and energy of the teenage girls, but also the kindness and parental pride of the weary father who waited at the burger joint while they enjoyed the dance. Congratulations on the publication, Thomas!

I’ve just read and enjoyed your poem, Thomas, with its affectionate and perceptive description of parental love. The poem reads so naturally and engagingly. Hard to imagine it was written against the background of your desperation over your son too. But I’m not surprised it was selected for publication: these lines speak for most parents. Warmest congratulations Tom.

You know Thomas, reading Spreading Wings did me a lot of good. I keep getting pulled towards the ‘cosmic’ (I mean in the bad sense, the truly pretentious) in my poetry. This poem by its consummate craft shows how a poem can spring from everyday experience—and can sound all the lofty notes a more abstract poem often misses. I’ll take this one to heart. It’s beautiful. I can even smell the onions frying in that Burger King.
Jim